Integrating online learning into an existing education
system is a worthwhile, but complex endeavor
that requires focused management of a
range of detailed activities, as well as ongoing,
effective communication between a district or
school and its online provider. For these reasons,
any district or school planning to offer online
courses will profit from identifying a site
coordinator, at either the district level or at each
school. This is the individual who will have primary
responsibility for implementing the online
program, including ensuring adequate student
support. The coordinator is the primary link between
district or school and provider, as well as
being the primary program contact for online students
and their parents. This individual usually
recruits, counsels, and enrolls students in online
learning and, in many cases, provides support
for students over the course of their online studies.
In the long run, whether the site coordinator
is full time or part time depends on how many
students are enrolled in an online program. For
example, at a smaller school with only a handful
of students taking online courses, a staff member
may split his or her time between serving
as a site coordinator for the online program and
serving as a guidance counselor. A district or
school may identify a coordinator before even
choosing a partner provider. In such cases, the
coordinator may lead the research effort. A coordinator
also may be appointed after a partner
has been chosen. Either way, some providers
have found it useful to develop a list of key coordinator
responsibilities, which they share with
districts and schools. Figure 1 is
an excerpt from the site coordinator manual for
Colorado Online Learning (COL); it lists typical
roles for a site coordinator working with COL.
Providers write up such descriptions to help districts
and schools identify the most appropriate
person for the coordinator position.

Iowa Online Advanced Placement Academy
(IOAPA), based at the University of Iowa in Iowa
City, specifies that its partners must designate
both a site coordinator and a technical coordinator.
While the site coordinator manages the district's
or school's overall implementation of online
learning, the technical coordinator ensures
that online students have the necessary technology
and does initial troubleshooting of any technology-
related problems. As with the site coordinator
position, a technology coordinator's time
commitment depends to some degree on how
many students are taking online courses, and,
in the case of a district-based coordinator, how
many schools have students studying online.

Table 2. Suggested Practices for the School- or District-Provider Partnership

Suggested Practice

Role of Schools and Districts

Role of Online Provider

Establish Overall
Responsibility for
the Effort

Identify a site coordinator who will take
charge of the district's or school's online program,
serving as key link between site and
provider and primary contact for students and
their parents

Provide partners with a list of job responsibilities
for the site coordinator

Offer training or other support for site coordinator

Evaluate site coordinator support and draw on
coordinators' knowledge to improve the program

Ensure Quality of
Advanced Courses

Inquire about and compare statewide or national
online course providers

Look for appropriate design and review, and
alignment to standards

Consider teacher-student interaction and
course pacing

Offer students a rigid, yet flexible, learning
environment in which they must meet assignment
and exam deadlines, but can do
their work at anytime during the day
and week

Create an engaging array of high-quality, standards-
based courses, using well-documented
design and review processes

Increase accessibility and interactivity by creating
low-tech, high-touch courses—low-tech
meaning they are available via a Web site
and high-touch meaning they involve frequent
student-teacher interactions

Evaluate course quality

Seek and Support
High-quality
Instruction

Consider instructor selection and support

Consider how instructors are monitored and
evaluated

Ensure that instructors are prepared—online
providers often present initial professional development
for online instructors and always require
that their instructors have content expertise

Ensure that instructors are monitored andevaluated

Recruit, Counsel,
and Support
Students

Assign a site coordinator to assume overall
site-based program responsibility

Utilize teachers, counselors, and others to
recruit beyond the standard pool of highperforming
students

Prior to course enrollment, use student selfassessments
and other tools supplied by
online provider as conversation starters for
counselors to use with students to help them
understand and prepare for the demands of
online learning

Assign a site-based mentor or counselor to
provide online learners with encouragement
and, if possible, content support

Provide site-based technology support

Offer tools and training to prepare school leaders
to identify and enroll students in appropriate
courses

Generate awareness within the school or district
community about the availability and benefit of
online learning

Actively recruit students from beyond the standard
pool of high-performers

Provide training for site coordinators and mentors

Implement a simple system for regular reporting
of student progress in each course, to aid
students, parents, and teachers in monitoring
student success

Provide technical support to help students, districts,
and school sites with technical issues

Use survey responses and other data to improve
student support

Evaluate and Plan
How to Reach
More Students

Track student progress in online courses to
guide local improvements and be ready to
offer data to course provider for evaluation
purposes

Seek alternative sources of funding to support
online learning

Evaluate outcomes and improve the program
over time

Seek alternative sources of funding to support
online learning

Plan how to accommodate growing demand

Figure 1. Colorado Online Learning Site Coordinator Responsibilities

COL Site Coordinator Responsibilities

Site Coordinator Responsibilities: Site coordinators are very important to the success a student has in
an online course. Depending on the local school situation, responsibilities may include the following:

Providing information to students and parents about COL courses

Processing and approving student registrations

Monitoring/encouraging student progress

Contacting COL staff and instructors as needed

Communicating with parents regarding COL courses

Reviewing weekly eligibility reports

Facilitating grade transcription

Reviewing invoices and facilitating payment

Brokering issues needing resolution, such as cheating and plagiarism, inactive students, technical
difficulties, and extra assistance to students

Some online providers offer training for site
coordinators. Virtual High School (VHS), based
in Maynard, Mass., has a four-week course designed
to familiarize site coordinators with its
policies and procedures. The course is taught
using the same platform (i.e., the Web-based
framework on which software applications operate
and, in this case, courses are delivered) as
VHS uses for its student courses; the intent is to
give coordinators a good understanding of how
students' online courses are delivered so they
are better able to answer students' delivery-related
questions. According to the 2004–06 VHS
evaluation conducted by Learning Point Associates,
approximately 90 percent of site coordinators
who participated in satisfaction surveys
during both of these school years indicated that
the VHS training and orientation effectively prepared
them to understand the program, use the
technology, and recruit and register students. 25
In Michigan, MVS maintains a staff of regional
ambassadors whose responsibilities include
visiting schools in their territory and offering
site coordinator training based on the school's
needs. For example, an ambassador may train
the coordinator in how to navigate the provider's
Web site, enroll students, or generate
student progress reports. An ambassador also
can explain whom to contact for technical support
or can provide answers to questions about
courses and enrollment dates.

Baseline Technology Requirements for School or District

While an online course provider must design and deliver high-quality courses, school leaders must ensure that their
site has the technological capacity to support course delivery. Despite the increasing integration of such high-tech
interactive media as electronic whiteboards, chat rooms, and audio and video streaming, technology requirements
for districts and schools are actually fairly simple: Students need a computer with high-speed, broadband
Internet access and properly adjusted settings for the firewall, which is designed to control access (e.g., to certain
Web sites). Most schools provide computer access through computer labs, which are open to students throughout
the day and, in some cases, after regular school hours or on weekends. Because online courses are designed to operate with one or more, but usually not all Web browsers (i.e., the software that allows a computer to read and
interact with Web text, images, and tools), districts or schools also must ensure that their computers are outfitted
with a browser (e.g., Explorer, Safari, Firefox) compatible with the online courses it plans to offer.

The time commitment required for a site coordinator
depends, in part, on the number of students
interested in online learning. Some districts assign
a district-level coordinator who works with
multiple schools. In Chesterfield County Public
Schools, Va., for instance, where several schools
offer courses through VHS, one district-level coordinator
supports all of them. In other instances,
each school has its own coordinator, often a current
teacher or counselor who has been asked to
pick up additional responsibilities.

Evaluating Site Coordinators' Support and
Drawing on Coordinators' Knowledge to
Improve the Program

Because site coordinators play a critical linking
role between programs and local schools,
it is important to ensure that these coordinators
receive the support they need to be successful.
Several of the programs profiled in this guide
conduct regular surveys of site coordinators and
other key parties (e.g., principals and teachers)
to monitor the effectiveness of their communication
with and support of coordinators.

VHS contracts with a nonprofit education organization,
Learning Point Associates, to conduct a
biannual evaluation and measure VHS's progress
toward meeting program goals. In the most recent
evaluation, encompassing the 2004–05 and
2005–06 school years, 96 percent of the site coordinators
responding to the evaluator's survey
reported that they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied"
with support services, including the technical
and procedural aspects of course enrollment.
However, they did suggest additional assistance
in recruiting
students. And both site coordinators
and teachers wanted VHS to facilitate more communication
between them and VHS.

Site coordinator surveys also can be used to
improve the overall program. IOAPA uses its
site coordinators as key resources for understanding
the larger context of advanced course
work in Iowa districts. Survey responses of 180
site coordinators painted a picture of varying
district practices for labeling advanced courses
and different grading policies. Overall, responses
identified a trend toward more AP courses;
however, they also identified several barriers to
AP enrollment and success, including students'
anxiety about the workload and lack of general
study skills. 26 By understanding the district policies
and contexts more fully, IOAPA can plan
better student supports and encourage districts
to establish or clarify policies to improve students'
success in advanced courses, both in
school and online.